After a long hiatus and the sad realization that I’m often over ambitious with my goals, I’ve come back to this blog with what I hope to be a sustained renewed energy. I’m interested to see how I’ve matured in two years and will mature thereafter. Am I fine wine, or still just fermented grape juice? (My future self will most likely be embarrassed by that line but the today me thinks it’s brilliant.)
A lot has changed in two years. November 2014 was when I first put in an offer to the place I’m living now. I didn’t close until May and renovations lasted until the end of July. Psychologically, buying a place attaches you to a physical location. You spend so much money just to call a place a home that you feel invested. Don’t get me wrong, I still love traveling but fall last year was the first year I ever felt a tinge of longing for home or moreover just my own bed.
For 2016, I hope to have learned my limits. I can’t do it all but I hope to choose the right things. How will I spend my time?
To answer this, I took a look at how I spend my time today.
There are 168 hours per week.
52.5 Hrs of Sleep (7.5 Hrs/day * 7)
48 Hrs at Work
16 Hrs 50 Mins of Commute (1 1/3 Hrs each way on wkdays + 1.5Hrs commuting Saturday for various Saturday plans + 2 Hrs commuting to church/climbing on Sunday)
11 Hrs of Eating/Meals (1 Hr of eating/wkday * 5 + 2 Hrs from 1 meal out with friend(s)/wk + 2 Hrs @ church dinner)
11 Hrs of Exercise (2.5 Hrs *2 wkday climbing sessions + 4 Hr wknd session + 2 Hrs cross-training)
7 Hrs of Hygiene/Personal Care (1 Hr/day)
6 Hrs @ Church/Fellowship (service + small group)
5 Hrs of Cooking/Chores (includes cleaning and laundry)
Remainder “free time” : ~10 Hrs 40 Mins
The sad reality is that there’s only about 10 hrs a week I really have to devote to learning, to hobbies, and other time-suckers like Facebook and Netflix. When you put that into perspective, it’s no wonder that we tend to deprioritize sleep. We’ll work through meals. We’ll order take-out. We’ll skip today’s run and think we’ll do it tomorrow, only to repeat the same excuse.
The other reality is that our time on earth is limited. Time is valuable. How do you want to spend your life? And how can you do it without sacrificing your health? What should the percentages above be? How much of your time do you choose to devote to relationships that matter?
Just food for thought for now 🙂 App to come later (…maybe). And if you haven’t read the Wait but Why version of perspective on time, go read now: The Tail End.
PS — So what your verdict for me? Fermented grape juice? Probs. I still have much to learn.
Yasss graphs, the people want more graphs.
No one becomes fine wine in 2 years. I think you should drink more wine, have more experiences, figure out what you like/what doesn’t work for you, and enjoy the process of tasting and adjusting. And drink with friends. Even the notoriously bad boxed wine is better in good company.
Welcome back, Queen of Ideas (of all sizes)! And yay, PIE (charts)!
Huh. Only 10 hours. That’s really little. I’m sure the actual amount varies from person to person but it shows how much we need to cherish that little bit of time and make the most of it.
Thanks for the link to the other blog post. A bit startling, but we need that sometimes.
I’ll preface my comment by saying I’m no one in particular and any opinions I express may be unsophisticated and none are meant to be judgmental or insulting. I’m commenting because I’m curious about the purpose of your post and I’m hoping any responses I elicit may help me make better choices in my own life. I live a very standard life – work, exercise, eat, leisure, sleep, repeat – but I know I want to do more at some point, maybe even immediately.
Your rigorous and disciplined schedule receives a ‘fine wine’ rating from me, but I don’t know exactly what you want out of your life, so my opinion doesn’t matter so much. Since you’re the only one who knows what you want to achieve on a daily basis and over your lifetime, you’re the only one capable of providing a meaningful rating.
If your schedule already includes all the activities you want to (rather than have to) partake in – climbing (exercise is necessary, but I stay in pretty good shape with only 30-40 minutes of rigorous exercise a day or ~4 hours per week vs your 11, so I consider climbing predominantly a choice), dinner with friends, 2 hour church dinners, 10 hours of time suckers on top of the previous choice activities -, then it seems you’re going through life exactly the way you want and don’t really have much reason to question your own schedule.
That being said, I feel like you are (or were, since the post was 10 months ago) dissatisfied with your daily routine, and it’s not simply because you have only 10 hours a week for hobbies. You posed the question ‘How do you want to spend your life?’ I’m wondering what it means to you to make your life count – what do you have to do to consider your life a success? Can you elaborate on your goals? Are they career related? Personal? Or even bigger? Reading responses to these questions from someone like you will help me determine what’s important in my own life – I haven’t completely figured it out.
The Tail End was a pretty good recommendation.